Theta Squad
by Due Learner
Summary: Follow nine Brothers-In-Arms ODST's as they try to stop the Covenant menace.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

"We've got a Hunter pair over the ridge, I spotted five Elites as well as a platoon of Grunts, No artillery," Fi whispered to the squad. Fi, "One-Five", was the squads scout, He had the best eyes and ears of them all.

"Six-Two, get a SPNKR Launcher prepared to take those hunters out, Merc, Mega, set up a firing position to eliminate those elites. I want those MA5B's set with Shredder rounds. We all know our armor can't take any direct plasma rounds. Due, Chaos, Shadow, Cryo, focus on those grunts, aim for the head, you know the drill," Sev barked. Sev, "Oh-Seven," was the squad leader. He had the best aim with a rifle. He could hit two targets with a sniper so quickly and efficiently, you couldn't tell which had perished first.

Chaos let out a sigh, "It's always so boring taking out those gas breathers, no satisfaction in the kills." Chaos, "Nine-One," was a bit sadistic. He got the most enjoyment out of his own life, by taking other creatures lives. He was considered the squads "assassin," He specialized in Knives. Old fashioned, but effective. Even on the shielding of the arrogant Elites.

"We don't have time to dwindle, Chaot'ika," Scorch teased, " Besides, why are you complaining? I'm the one who has to suffer in this damn snow." Scorch, "Six-Two," was the squads demolitions expert. He handles all the explosives, and he is appropriately named, as his favorite method of killing, is by burning them. He is Second in command of the squad.

"Can you guys quit bitching and get a move on the op before the covenant get to us," Shadow hissed. Shadow, "Three-Two," was different, in the fact that he had no clear specialty. He just had determination. He would never give up. He would fight until every ounce of breath was squeezed from his lungs.

"Alright boys, Three-Two's right, we have a reputation to uphold, and a mission to finish. The fun is just starting," Sev motioned his hands to direct each "Theta" to their positions, and he climbed up a small cliff of snow over-looking the battlefield. He readied his rifle, and opened up the Com channel. "Com channel is open, does everyone copy?" Eight acknowledgement lights burned green in his helmet. "They haven't spotted us yet, Scorch, on three, fire two rockets at the Hunter pair, once those explosives hit, I want everyone on their targets. Quick and clean."

Scorch readied his SPNKR rocket launcher on his shoulder, and carefully aimed at his unsuspecting victims. There was no room for error here, if he missed either hunter, it'd be hell getting another clean shot on them. He brought up a small timer on each Theta's helmet. It displayed the time the rockets would impact, not when they were fired.  
" Three....Two....One...,"Two rockets flew from their tubes leaving the SPNKR smoking. Scorch dropped the launcher and pulled out his MA5B assault rifle to assist Merc and Mega on the elites once the rockets impacted. Two explosions echoed off the cliff walls and orange worms flew in all directions due to the collision. Sniper fire Crackled as bullets flew over head, connecting with each elites personal shield, leaving them vulnerable to the combined fire from the squad.

Due, Cryo, Chaos, and Shadow made short work of the grunts by focusing their M6D fire on their heads. Some of the Grunts ignited as bullets penetrated their methane suits, and if the bullet didn't kill them, the flames did. A couple of the grunts attempted to extinguish the flames by rolling in the snow, however their attempts were in vain as the Helljumpers picked them off at a long range.

"I still praise the genius who designed this pistol," Cryo remarked. Cryo was the squads jokester. It was a position that used to be held by Fi, but years of combat had hardened him. Cryo was the newest member to Theta, and he still had a bit of a pure mind in him. He specialized in CQB, but he's happy to take a break from it all and just pick off the covenant bastards at a distance.

"Cut the chatter, if the covenant didn't know we were here before, they do now. Our objective is to plant two FENRIS nuclear warheads into a newly constructed Covenant factory, It's still about eight miles south of here, but we're going to be seeing more and more resistance as we progress. The Pelican will be at the LZ within two hours. We don't have much time to work, Get in the 'hog's." Sev ordered.

The Warthogs stationed behind them had been used to get them this far. All three of the hogs had been painted white, to help blend in with the snowy terrain. It didn't camouflage them much, but it was better than nothing. The first two vehicles were standard M12LRV's, essentially jeeps with turrets on the back of them. The third one, however, had been modified, and the turret was missing. Instead, there was a layer of thick armor all around the back side, making it more like a truck. The nuclear warheads were strapped down there. The Mongoose, a small all terrain scout vehicle of the UNSC, was also painted white. Fi used this to move ahead faster than the other vehicles, to report what was where, and what to target.

Due accessed a map of the area, and took a moment to create a trail on the map which would give them the most direct route to the factory. He then uploaded it to each ODST so they could access it from their "VISR." Due, "Five-Eight" was the transportation specialist. But he would rather just be called a pilot. He was trained to fly Pelicans, Longswords, Hornets, and nearly every combat ship in the UNSC armada. But just because he preferred to be in a ship didn't mean he couldn't hold his own with standard weapons.

"Alright, as you can see, I've uploaded a map to our VISR's, it shows the most direct path to the factory, although there might be some changes while we're on the road, I think this is our best course of action," Due explained.

"Did everyone get the upload," Sev questioned. All eight lights winked green. "Good, Fi, move ahead now, and report back with whatever disturbances you see. Due, I want you driving that first hog. Merc, Cryo, you're with him. Chaos, Mega, you two are with me. I'm driving," As he gave commands he inched towards his jeep. "Six-Two, Three-Two, You two follow up behind us, we can't risk letting those nukes taking a round of plasma and detonating in our ass."

The rest of the squad followed the instructions, and were moving in no time. But something was on Scorch's mind. "Why would the UNSC send nine ODST's to destroy a covenant factory on their own? Surely this was an important mission, they couldn't risk letting the Covenant have such a massive base set up so close to human controlled space? So why did they lack tanks, and air-support," These questions plagued his mind, but he forced the thoughts into the back of his head. Where he suppressed all of his emotions.

The first fifteen minutes went by silently, with no radio contact. Then Fi's light blinked red twice. The "hold up" signal. "Fi, what's the problem?," Oh-Seven asked as the warthog decelerated.

"We've got multiple contacts up ahead. At least four ghosts, and two banshees. I see two shade turrets set up and what appears to be a makeshift camp," Fi reported.

"Sir, should we engage?," Mega questioned. Mega loved his Assault Rifles. Be it MA5B, MA5C, or even a MA5K, as long as it was automatic and it could tear through covenant armor, he didn't care. He had conflicting personalties with other members of the squad, and there was much drama concerning him outside of the military, but in combat situations everyone sucked it up, because he was just as good of a soldier as them.

Sev pondered a moment, and than replied, "Fi wait up for us. We're going to bring Scorch's rocket to you, and you'll cover me and Due as we move the Hog's to the base. Six-Two, I want you to follow up slowly, by the time you arrive we should be finishing up."

"Don't you think it'd be easier to just avoid this battle all together?" Shadow had made the mistake of questioning orders many times before, they didn't have time for this now.

"Shadow! Think about who you're questioning for a moment, we don't have time to deal with your shit, shut up and follow the orders," Scorch screamed, controlling his temper was usually easy, all though his patience had been running thin recently.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want to risk screwing up the op so Sev can add a couple of kills to his service record."

Merc had heard enough. "That's it, both of you are acting like children. There are lives at stake, and you are bitching about it as if we're back in some drill. He's the CO not you," Merc said calmly. Merc rarely spoke. He was one of those "strong silent types." He only spoke when he was spoken directly too, or if he had no other choice.

As if someone had stapled Shadows mouth shut, he ceased talking. So did Scorch, and even Sev. When Merc spoke it was a sign that things were getting out of hand. Maybe they weren't the perfect squad, but when it came to combat, they were damn close.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The slight drone of the warthog's engine echoed throughout the snowy valley. Chaos hopped out of the jeep and spotted Fi, with his visor unpolarized, with goggles raised to his eye's.  
"What's new?," Chaos questioned.  
"More bastards have been arriving since we last spoke. A shit-load of buggers are in the skies. Hopefully the snow will mask our approach. " Fi responded, his voice chilled due to the low temperature.  
"Looks like they've been sending reinforcements then. No problem. More fun for me," Chaos chuckled, while handing Fi Scorch's rockets. "Don't lose them, they're the only one's we got. Fi inspected the large rocket launcher. As Fi began to open his mouth, likely asking about ammo, Chaos revealed 4 additional Rockets, for Fi to use.  
"Thanks."  
Chaos gave Fi a slight nod, and returned to his vehicle to inform the others of the new threat.

"Mega, Cryo, stay on your toes. I want those turrets focused on the drones first, we can't risk getting plasma grenades dropped on us from the sky. Directly afterward focus fire on the banshees. Fi should be able to hit the ghosts with those rockets no problem. Merc, Chaos, I want you two getting grenades on those shade turrets the second you can hit them. Afterward we'll load up on plasma weapons, and the elites should be less of a challenge. Let's make it happen people," Sev dictated.  
"At this point I'm going to have to agree with Shadow," Mega commented. "This is insane, with drones in the air, as well as banshee's, I don't think we'll make it to the base.  
Sev let out a sigh, and asked if anyone agreed with Mega. 4 green lights winked. "I see, you don't want to risk your lives on what seems like a pointless battle, but look at it this way. If we don't take out these troops now, then they'll just hit us from the rear when we attack the main factory. We're going to have deal with these shit-heads sooner or later, And I would much rather be on the offense at a time like this," Sev explained.  
Even though some of the squad didn't like the fact that Sev was in-command, he was right. He was always good at planning ahead, and he was a great motivator.  
Due exhaled,"I find myself reluctantly agreeing with your tactical analysis."  
"Then let's continue on with the mission as planned," Chaos smirked.

"Shadow, what the hell happened back there," Scorch asked, with a touch of anger in his voice.  
"Scorch, that mission is suicide. Sev has us parading around as if we're Spartans. It's not like we've got shielding. We can't just take the plasma burns. And you know as well as I do, that the battle he's going into could easily be avoided.  
"Do you ever stop and think? This mission isn't just about racking up kills. Believe it or not, Sev knows what he's doing," As Scorch was talking the warthog hit a bump, causing the jeep to swerve on the ice," If they didn't engage those troops now, they'd just come back behind us later. And damn it, will you stop causing problems in the middle of a combat situation? We can deal about your gripes with Sev, _After the mission_."  
"One of these day's, he's going to fuck up, and get us all killed. And there will be no, 'after the mission'," Shadow warned, with a touch of emphasis on the sentence.  
"And when that happens, you two can debate who's fault it was in hell," Scorch simmered. "Look Shadow, I don't mean to be harsh on you, but you have to stop letting your temper get the best of you. Atleast try to keep a level head, for the squad?"  
"I _do_ try, It's just that....," Three-Two let out a sigh, " Fuck it. I'll follow his orders. But we WILL have a nice little chat after this mission.  
The warthog continued along the path, and the two Theta's were silent.

50 caliber rounds rushed out of the chaingun's barrel and collided with the buggers. Lime green blood oozed out of the air, as the covenant tried to make a futile counter-attack. Rocket's streamed towards the ghosts, one made a direct hit with the ghosts engine, causing it to explode in a mixture of blue and red flame. The second rocket went off course, and exploded harmlessly in the snow. Banshee fire rained down on the two warthogs, and Sev and Due struggled to keep the jeeps out of the line of fire. Cryo's turret rounds tore through drones wings forcing them to fall to the ground, where the warthogs brutally splattered them, painting the tires of the 'Hogs lime green.  
Plasma from the two shade turrets splashed on the side of Due's vehicle as he tried to bring it in close enough for Merc to land 2 fragmentation grenades under the carriage of the floating turret. The plasma melted the side of the 'Hog, but everyone remained uninjured. Merc tossed 2 grenades out the side of the jeep as plasma whizzed past his head, close enough, that his suits armor automatically _lowered_ the internal heat in his suit.  
With one turret down they still had to focus on the remaining turret, both banshees, and three ghosts. Armor piercing rounds from the chaingun turrets tore through the banshee's think purple armor, and made direct contact with the Elite piloting it. The Banshee flew out of control and miraculously landed on top of the remaining Shade turret. "Two birds with one stone...," Mega whispered as he diverted his attention to the remaining banshee. The Banshee fired a fuel-rod directly at the warthog and Sev tried to veer off to evade it, unfortunately, the warthog tires dug into a lake of ice and spun in a complete 360 degree circle, and the radioactive explosion from the fuel rod sent the warthog flying, and it's occupants soaring through the air like rag dolls.  
Chaos and Sev fell out of the vehicle in mid-air, but Mega retained his grip on the turret. Unfortunately for him, he let go as the 'Hog neared the ground. He hit the snow face first, and the massive warthog landed on his left leg, completely shattering it. He shouted in pain.

Fi took careful aim and hit 2 more ghosts with his rockets, After witnessing Sev's hog take the fuel rod there was no way he was letting them get picked off by ghosts. He rushed to load the final 2 rockets into his launcher, but the remaining ghost was already at the fallen soldiers.

Mega felt a sharp bolt of pain throughout his legs as he strained to pull himself up. "Lookout!," Sev cried as the ghost came barreling towards Eight-Five. There wasn't enough time to react, the ghost would impact with him and crush him. He attempted to move his legs but they felt like rubber, and he was frozen there.  
Chaos and Sev sprayed bullets from their MA5B's at the ghost, hoping to land a shot on it's engine. But they would have no such luck today. Mega closed his eyes and raised his arms up to his chest, hoping to survive almost certain death.  
Due charged in the direction Mega was in, he had the warthog going at it's absolute maximum speed, and he prayed he would make it in time. Moments before the ghost would have struck Mega, the Warthog came barreling in from the side, and completely smashed the ghost. The remaining pieces of ghosts went flying in each and every direction. It had been inches from Mega's body. That had been much to close.

With all the commotion the final Banshee had gotten the helljumpers in it's sights. Plasma fired from the aircraft, and superheated plasma flew through the air at the Thetas. Fi simultaneously fired his final rocket towards the beast.  
Chaos noticed the incoming plasma and rolled side to side avoiding the bolts as best as he could. No plasma wounds. He observed the Banshee overhead explode in a brilliant blue light, and it's remains fall to the ground, Fi had scored a direct hit.  
Sev blinked his green light three times, the "Regroup" signal.  
"Good work boys, Any injuries?" A single red light flashed. All eyes glared at Mega, who had just now arrived at their position, limping. "Report?"  
"Just a little shaken up, My left leg is fractured. I can still fight, but mobility is limited," He reported.  
"Alright, I want you with Scorch once they arrive here. I've already directed them to regroup with us, Shadow will take your place, and you will help Scorch guard the Nukes. Due, I want you to go make sure our warthog is in working order," he pointed in the direction of the crashed warthog," Merc, Cryo, gather as many plasma weapons as you can, we'll need them once we get to the factory." The entire squad did as commanded.

Scorch's warthog pulled up to the battle field, and he stared blankly at the carnage. "Looks like they made it," Scorch said with relief. He had received a transmission from Sev a few minutes ago, but it was clouded with Static, so he was unsure what to expect. Scorch began to drive towards Due, until Five-Eight exclaimed,  
"I wouldn't come near here, Slippery as hell. I don't want to risk that 'Hog tipping and having those Nukes fall out the back." Scorch acknowledged Due's warning, and continued to drive the warthog to Sev.  
"What took you two so fucking Long," Sev shouted, as if he didn't care if anyone heard. He was pissed, Scorch didn't have to see his face to tell. "I sent you the message to speed up nearly 10 minutes ago." Shadow began to open his mouth, but decided against it. He would prefer not have the others on his back about insubordination.  
"I apologize, _sir_," Scorch said with so much sarcasm it nearly made Mega vomit, "Your transmission was nothing but static to us, so don't bitch at us."  
"Stop your bitching,"Chaos moaned as he returned to the squads position, covered in blue blood, the blood of an Elite patrol squad. Sev explained that Mega had broken his leg, and wouldn't be much use in an attack force. So he should assist in guarding the Nukes.  
"Here you go Scorch, sorry I used up all your Rockets, still thought you might want the useless tubes though," Fi remarked, handing Scorch his rocket launcher.  
Scorch made an age old hand gesture, His middle finger raised in the air. "I guess it's a good thing I've got some more rocket packs in my 'Hog," He scoffed.  
Shadow noticed that Merc and Cryo were missing, "Hey, were the hell is Oh-Four and Three-Seven?"  
"They're stocking up on covenant weapons. Plasma is much more efficient on Elites shielding, I thought it would be useful to get them," Sev responded, matter-of-factly.  
"Oh, my favorite," Shadow happily replied. It was true, Shadow had a knack for covenant technology. The first time he got his hands on a plasma rifle there was no confusion, he just picked it up, and fought his way out of an ambush.  
Cryo and Merc returned to the squad shortly after, arms full of plasma weapons.  
"So, how much do we have?" Shadow asked, excited.  
"About 6 plasma rifles, and 4 plasma pistols. We recovered a large amount of grenades as well," Cryo answered. Although You couldn't see Three-Two's face, because of the dark visor of the ODST helmet, Shadow had a large grin on his face. He quickly handed Mega his assault rifle, so he could carry a plasma pistol and a plasma rifle. He also grabbed a few plasma grenades. The rest of the covenant weapons were being distributed, when Due approached the group.  
"It's still operational," Due said while looking over the Covenant weapons, "Barely, that is I managed to repair a couple of broken parts. It should run, but take another direct hit like that, and it will go up in flames. So be careful."  
"Alright. Looks like everyone is all set, so let's load back up. Mega, I want you to watch yourself, you need to stay near the warthog. Guard it, stay near the hog at all costs. We've got about an hour to pull this off, this is the final stretch," Sev motivated them all, to an extent.

Fi saw the massive covenant factory clearly now. The snow had let up. The massive purple structure was remarkable. There was engineers floating around the structure, repairing any sections that may have been damaged. Covenant Assault Carriers loomed overhead, the factory pumping them with plasma, used to burn the very planet they were on.  
He also spotted multiple wraiths, as well as banshee scouts, and ghosts. The Factory was also fitted with multiple shade turrets. There was only 2 clear entrances. Near the top of the structure was a balcony. And on top of it stood a golden Elite. The one in command of this mission. He was speaking with a Major Domo Elite, the ones fitted with Red armor. 2 hunters came into view. "Holy shit...,"Fi said to himself.  
Fi started to turn back, to walk to his mongoose, when he noticed a jackal pair inspecting it. "Shit," He uttered. He would have to kill them silently, otherwise the entire covenant army would be down his throat. This wasn't a job for him, this was something Chaos would of loved to do. Fi ran up to the first jackal from behind, snapping it's neck killing it instantly. The second jackal turned to face Fi, but it was too late for him. Fi had aimed the plasma pistol square at the beast's head. Plasma erupted from the small pistol, and burned away at the bastards head. Purple blood oozed from the wound, and Fi picked up the jackals energy shield, saving it for later.  
Fi hopped on his mongoose, and zipped away, hoping that the covenant hadn't noticed him.

Fi gave the Theta's a status report. "No fucking way...," Due said, flabbergasted. "There is no way we can break through those wraiths with no air support."  
"Come on Due, I think this will be interesting. It's been awhile since we've taken on wraiths," Chaos said, melancholy.  
"Is there any other way in, besides the front door? Maybe we could sneak in or something," Merc suggested.  
"I don't think that's possible," Mega said.  
"Wait a minute. Fi, Upload your video logs to my VISR, I might have an idea," Scorch hastily said.  
Fi's green acknowledge light blinked.  
Scorch viewed the video log, and admired the covenant technology. It really was centuries ahead of he inspected the structure, he noticed something.  
"Alright, everyone look at this screenshot," A picture of the covenant factory appeared in each VISR, " Look near the extreme right of the picture. There is a cliff full of snow that should ob-skewer the sniper's view. We can sneak to this wall, and use our plasma to burn a hole through this alloy. Once we're inside we can plant the nukes near the Core, and extract to the LZ," Scorch said.  
"Sounds like a plan," Cryo said. Not showing any signs of being nervous at all. He trusted in Scorch's plans.  
"Mega, you aren't fit for duty at the moment. We're going to take these nukes. Be ready to extract us with this hog once we get out of the base. We're going to leave you to guard these 'Hogs. We need them, no matter what," Sev ordered. Mega's light burned green. "And one last thing, I don't want any COM chatter. We're to close to the Covenant, I don't want them intercepting our chat, and pinpointing where we are."  
Shadow and Cryo helped unload the Nukes, and one was strapped to Scorch's back, the other strapped to Chaos's back. They wouldn't have it any other way. Scorch had the detonator codes locked into his helmet, and Sev brought up a countdown timer. They had approx. 40 minutes before they were supposed to be at the pick up zone. It would take atleast 13 minutes to drive to the pelican. They would have to be quick, and efficient to survive.

Merc, Cryo, and Shadow took point. They moved along the cliff wall, crouching low, hoping that a sniper wouldn't spot them. Scorch and Chaos moved in the middle of the group, they were the top priority. Due, Sev, and Fi covered their six.  
They managed to arrive at the wall with no resistance. But this is where luck came into play. If the covenant heard the plasma burning through the wall, things were going to hot real fast. But if they managed to go through this wall un-noticed, they might all make it out alive. As for Scorch, he didn't believe in luck. Only Skill. Fi remarked, to Cryo,Merc, and Shadow, "I wish you skill." Which earned him a slight elbow to the chest from Scorch.

Sev readied his sniper aim directly on the head of the nearest sniper, incase they heard the plasma. Due and Fi also prepared to fire on incoming contacts incase things got hot. The wall started to melt away as the plasma made contact with it. They continued blasting the purple alloy until they accidentally blasted a plasma fuel line. "SHIT!" Chaos muttered. As a fire began to spread throughout the factory. The group hurried inside before snipers could noticed which direction they had entered.  
The inside of the building was quite simple, a single massive purple room, with the core in the center, and a spiraling starcase extending all the way to the balcony at the top of the factory. That's what the Core room looked like anyway. Plasma was being pumped to ships above, and they would quickly noticed that the plasma was no longer flowing, due to the flaming circuit, which had now set fire to the entire wall. They had to work fast. The nukes had hardened armor, it could withstand bullets, and even fire. But plasma could burn though it. So they could leave the nukes in the factory without worry about a pre-mature detonation.  
As the team moved to the very center of the room to plant the FENRIS war-heads, a group of Elite Minors entered the room, and opened fire on the Theta's. Due rolled to the side, dodging a bolt of blue plasma, with the air still crackling where he had stood just a moment before. The other Thetas were taking similar evasive maneuvers. Cryo managed to toss 2 Plasma grenades into the group of 6 Elites, sticking two of them.  
The First two Elites blew up in an explosion of Blow, but it simply lowered the shields of the other 4 elites. Chaos and Sev made short work of them and diverted their attention to a _new_ threat. 2 Hunters had entered the room. Scorch had already started to plant this nuke when the hunters opened fire. He wasn't fast enough to dodge them.  
Fi jumped between the hunters and Scorch. Using the Jackal shield he had found earlier to protect him. The shield had dissipated soon after the second wave had ended. And the armor on his arm had started to melt away because of the heat. Chaos pulled out his Combat knife and dove strait for one hunter. "Chaos what the hell do you think you're doing!," Sev exclaimed. No marine had ever gone hand to hand with a hunter and survived. Chaos dodged the hunters shield and twisted around it, to it's exposed lower back. He dug his combat knife into the beast's back, and jerked it up. He pulled the knife out and quickly repeated the process, but in reverse jerking the knife down this time. The hunter collapsed in a heap on the floor, unable to sustain it'self.  
The second hunter turned to face Chaos, enraged at him for killing his bond brother. Chaos taunted, "Bring it." But the other HellJumpers had already begun ripping into the Monsters back with their assault rifles. The hunter would be joining it's bond brother.

Scorch had just finished arming the charges and he stood up. Shaking his head, "You're one crazy son of a bitch, Chaos," He said. Chaos laughed it off. And Sev reminded them of their time limit. Only 28 minutes. They had to bail. The War-heads were in place.  
They turned to exit the the same way they had come, only to realize that the makeshift doorway had created was engulfed in flames. "Aw Fuck me," Shadow sighed.  
"Due, bring up a map of this area, see if we can find another way out, make it fast," Sev commanded. Due followed the instructions, however there was only one clear way out of the complex. Out the front door, and past the Wraiths and ghosts.  
"Sorry Sev, no way out other than the front door. And we need to hurry too."  
Sev broke his own rule, probably assuming that the covenant were already aware of his position, "Mega, don't respond. Are the hogs alright?" Mega's Light remained gray for a moment, and then blinked Green. " We're on our way out the front door, prepare for a hasty get-a-way. Mega's light flashed Green, once more. Sev motioned for the team to move forward, back in it's formation.  
The ODST's ran down the staircase, avoiding the raging fires, which now engulfed the majority of the complex. A small team of grunts was guarding the front door, but they didn't last long. As the team neared the front door a tiny patch of snow in front of Scorch exploded, "Fuck, Snipers are still out there!" Sev raised his palm up, a sign telling the squad to wait.  
Sev readied his rifle, and quickly ran outside the complex. The wraith quickly spotted him, but he ignored it. He traced the snipers movements and pulled the trigger. A half second later the Jackal sniper's head exploded, painting the wall with fresh purple blood.  
Scorch fired two rockets at the first wraith, managing to blow the canopy off the top of the Vehicle, and damaging it, but not killing it. Shadow charged the wraith, and hopped on top of it, beating the driver to death, and then pulled the body out. He looked at the controls with a confused look, and managed to figure out how to aim the mortar up and down. That's all he needed. Chaos fired the massive balls of superheated plasma at the ghosts, frying them before they could evade. "GO!" He shouted, and the team rushed through the open snow towards the area where Mega was waiting.  
The team was firing wildly at the Elites who stood between them and the exit. They were unloading every round of ammo they had on infantry, while shadow covered them with the mortars. Banshees flew by over head. Shadow angled the mortar cannon so it could fire directly in the air, and began bombarding the skies with plasma. He landed a lucky hit on one banshee, and then noticed there was no way he could take them all.  
10 Covenant Banshee fliers had his wraith in their sights, All ten fired their fuel rods at his vehicle. He jumped out of the wraith, and sprinted as far from it as he could. As the bombs impacted the wraith, he jumped away. Burns now covered his back. He pulled himself up off the ground. And saw his plasma rifle laying next to him. He swiped it up, and fired towards a group of Elites. They noticed him, and quickly fired tons of plasma on his position. He was to slow to evade them all, and caught a plasma bolt to his shoulder. He could smell the skin burning away. He tossed a plasma grenade at the Elites, and continued firing until the last one fell.  
He limped over to where his wraith had been a moment before, And hid behind it while he administered Biofoam into his shoulder. It would hold him together.

The other Thetas were finally at Mega's position. Their timers read 15 Minutes. They had to leave NOW. As Mega saw them all running for the 'Hog's he questioned Scorch as he hopped in the side seat, "Scorch, What happened to Shadow."  
"Aww shit," Scorch managed to say at last. Scorch went into the Theta's encrypted channel. "Shadow, status." Shadows Acknowledgement light burned Red. The sign that things had gone wrong. " Sev, Shadow's in trouble, we have to get him out of there!"  
"No," Shadows voice echoed in each Theta's helmet, "Leave me here. There's not enough time you guys to make it out if you can get me. I'll stay here, and hold em off,make sure these Nuke's don't blow early." Shadow was clearly in pain.  
"We're not leaving you Shadow," Chaos said, intently.  
"I won't let you take me. Now go, You won't make it unless you leave NOW. And cut the fucking chatter will you? Do you want these..." Shadow was cut off and static filled the COM channel.  
"DAMN IT," Sev said, pounding on the dashboard of his warthog. "Everyone, lets go, right fucking now. There's no time. We'll all die if we stay here."  
"I can't believe we lost Shadow..." Fi said, his voice trembling with pure rage.  
"Best course plotted, follow me," Due managed to say, as their warthogs began picking up speed.

"Piece of shit COM channel," Shadow said, turning off the mic in his helmet. He left the cover of the wraith to try and find some way out of the Factory. He scanned for 30 seconds and saw his prize. A Banshee on the Balcony of the top floor. He could clear the Factory before the explosion, if he was fast enough that is.  
He charged into the Factory, sprinting up the spiraling staircase, ignoring the flames that had now spread throughout the entire complex, as well as the near blinding pain in his shoulder. He passed the area where the Nukes had been planted. He continued his uphill sprint until the Banshee was in sight. As ran towards it, and single gold Elite popped out of a corner, and slashed at him with his Energy Sword. The Blade narrowly missed, but the heat alone was enough to cut through Shadow's Armor, and leave a massive cut on his chest. Shadow fell backwards. The Elite spoke in Alien tongue, and Shadow couldn't decipher it.  
Shadow aimed his plasma rifle at his opponent,and opened fire, but the Elites shielding had withstood the plasma, and he knocked the plasma rifle over the edge of the balcony. The elite swung at Shadow's head again. He ducked and pushed the Elite towards the balcony. The two struggled over who would be pushed over the edge, and the Elite easily forced Three-Two back. Shadow fell to his feet, and the Aliens blade came straight for his head. He managed to roll to the side and the monster missed. Shadow pulled himself off the ground and landed two punches on the elites shielding. The elite staggered back, and lost it's grip on the sword, but it was unharmed otherwise. The lone ODST pulled the Sword that had been stuck in the ground out, and took a slash at the Elite. It's shielding faded.  
Now, with a weapon, the Helljumper could fight back. The Elite tried to pull the sword from Shadows grasp, but Shadow was able to bring the sword down on the Elites hands, completely amputating them, Blue blood spayed from the arms, in the place where the Elites hands _used_ to be. And as the Elite screamed in pain, Shadow finished it off by thrusting the Energy Sword through the monster's chest.  
Shadow was still aware of the countdown timer. It was now at 9:00 minutes until lift off. He could make it, if he was lucky. He ran for the Banshee, and flew it off the Covenant Factory, hoping that he could make it away from the explosion that would soon be coming.

The warthogs were approaching the LZ, and the Pelican was in view. The Thetas rushed inside the Pelican, and Due and Fi asked the pilot to sit in the back, as they wanted to take this pelican for a spin. Due sat in the Pilot Seat, and FI hopped in the Co-pilot seat. They began to take off, and were heading out into orbit, where they could board one of the final frigates off the planet, before it was glassed.  
"Scorch, blow the Factory, now," Sev ordered.  
"What if he's still down there. I'm supposed to be happy to see the explosions. But I don't want to be the one who kills Shadow."  
"Scorch, we _heard_ him die."  
Scorch let out a sigh. A sign of him letting Sev win the argument. "FENRIS warheads set to blow in Five....Four....Three....Two....One...."  
The factory set off a massive explosion. The Covenant ships that had been being refueled were also caught in the explosion. Nearly 5 Covenant ships were killed thanks to the Thetas.  
They had completed their mission successfully, but none of them were celebrating. As Scorch looked through the back of the Pelican, and the hatch began to close, signifying the ship going into orbit. He whispered the phrase, "Ret'urcye mhi, vod'ika" - (Translates to: Good Bye, Brother)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Scorch continued to look at the section of the planet where he and his team had just been. So many different thoughts were racing throughout his head. He knew Sev was right. They had heard Shadow die. His last words would surely haunt their dreams. Six-Two shook his head as Chaos put his hand on his brother's shoulder.  
"I know it's hard to believe that he's gone...," Chaos started.  
"I know that he's dead. My mind is telling me that. But in my heart I want to believe that he's still alive down there. But then again, I've learned not to trust my heart. Logic and reason is what will cause us to win this war. Not heart."  
"That might be true, but Shadow has determination. Maybe he did make it out alive. But we'll never know."  
"Why is that," Scorch asked, while he removed his helmet, exposing his dark green eyes, and blond hair, which was now slightly over regulation length.  
"Due said that the Covenant had already started glassing the planet when we took off. He has nowhere to run," Chaos said, mimicking Scorch's gesture, removing his helmet as well. Chaos looked as if he was staring right through Scorch's body, and into his soul. Chaos had grey eyes, which were barely visible as his black hair covered up the top half of his head. It was much longer than regulation length, but this late into the war, nobody cared about it.  
Scorch looked directly at the floor of the pelican and took his seat. Placing his hands over his face. His helmet dropped to the ground. He lifted his head up, and peered around at the men sitting around him. Chaos, Merc, Cryo, Mega, and Sev, his brothers. The Pilot that had brought the Pelican to the LZ was napping. Pilots rarely got any sleep. They had all removed their helmets, and he glanced at each one of their faces, memorizing them.  
Sev was looking over video logs from the mission, and Mega was trying to get some sleep, so he wouldn't have to feel the pain of his leg. Scorch for a moment, and just now realized how bad of condition Mega's leg was in. His leg was covered in blood, but his armor had kept it hidden. His bones were in pieces, and Sev had asked him to shake it off. He had to of been in a lot of pain.  
Scorch continued his scan of his team, Cryo had his head in his arms, he was trembling with rage. Cryo was sensitive, and that wasn't a good trait to have in a war like this, Scorch thought to himself. As he craned his head to observe Merc, he realized that Merc was already standing directly next to him.  
"It's not your fault," Merc said at last.  
"I don't feel like it is," Scorch replied.  
"Watch the hostility," Sev reminded them.  
Scorch thought about what him and Shadow had spoke about, on the warthog trip to the mini Covenant camp. "One of these day's, Sev's going to fuck up, and there will be no, 'After the mission.'" Scorch felt anger rise up inside of him. He struggled to keep it down. Shadow had been right, to an extent. It hadn't been Sev's blunder that had gotten Shadow killed. It had been his own, Scorch repeated in his mind. It had been him, that noticed that side entrance on the factory. And things might of been different if they had just dealt with the wraith and banshees before they entered the base.  
"Don't think about it. We did the best we could. The outcome would of been worse if we hadn't followed your and Sev's orders," Chaos said, as if he was reading Scorch's mind.  
Scorch let out a sigh, "I know that. I just wish he could be here with us. But we can't change the past. What's done is done," Scorch pushed the feelings of pain and regret to the back of his head, and put on a smile for his squad.  
"I wonder what Aimee is going to do," Cryo said, regrettably. Aimee was Shadow's current girlfriend. The two of them had been dating for a little over a month, but they were close before they started dating. They were very close. Aimee was also the squads information officer. She was considered part of the squad, even though she had a desk job. She wrote up the reports of the missions, and gave them maps of the area and as much intel as possible.  
"Oh shit, I forgot about her for a moment," Mega said, waking up.  
"We'll tell her the truth. He died a hero," Sev said. "He died so the rest of his team could live. That's the best death anyone could ask for."  
"I disagree," Scorch replied.  
"Oh really, then how would YOU want to die."  
"In the middle of a huge fucking explosion," Scorch said smiling.  
"Can we please get off the subject of death?" Cryo asked. Before Sev could force out a witty reply, Due's voice sounded on the speakers.  
"Prepare to break through the atmosphere, strap in."

Due flicked the switch that allowed the rest of the pelican to hear him. He focused his eyes forward. They would be docking on the ONI Frigate Say My Name. From there they would get a couple days of R&R and then be sent off on another mission.  
"Due...," Fi started to say.  
"Yes?" Due answered, starting to swerve out of the way of incoming debris from a UNSC ship that had been destroyed in the space conflict above the planet, just hours before.  
"Are you alright?" Fi asked.  
Due took a couple seconds to respond, thinking it over. "Yes. I'm fine. Don't worry about it."  
"I'm going to worry about it. I feel like shit about it, and I know you do too. You always get very emotional over issues like this." It was true. Due was the most sensitive member in the squad. He was probably the most nervous and paranoid of them all as well. But he could never show it. He had to be strong for the rest of the squad, he wouldn't dare bring them down with his own problems.  
"You know me too well," Due responded. Fi and Due were both extremely close. They had been fighting together for nearly 3 years. They had survived countless battles together, and they both knew each other as if they had known the other their entire lives. "But there's no reason to be sad. Shadow died saving the rest of us, and I'm sure he was happy while doing it."  
"So you're saying he went out with a bang," Fi chuckled. He was clearly masking his own sadness with dark humor. Due shot Fi a menacing glance, and returned his focus to the blackness of space. Too soon, Fi thought, focusing on his controls.  
Due gave a slight nod, and then keyed in a few instructions on his Autopilot, then turned on his COM and tried to reach the UNSC frigate. "This is Theta Five-Eight requesting to dock in level 4. We have wounded aboard," Due's voice echoed in the small cockpit.  
A small response appeared on one of his screens. It was sent by the Frigates AI. It asked for a clearance code. He typed in the response, "Point Of No Return."  
A small hatch on the massive frigate appeared. Two small lights blinked twice on the entrance, and the ship "went dark" once again. It hadn't occurred to Due that Say My Name was taking a huge risk while waiting for the ODSTs to return. Covenant ships had surrounded the area and were blasting any ships they saw. Every Theta had been lucky they hadn't been seen.

The AI "Corrupted Purpose" alerted First Lieutenant Aimee Smathers. She was one of the few ONI personal actually aboard the ship.  
"Thank you Corrupt," Aimee said, chipper to see the team returning.  
"Would you like me to establish a video feed to the cockpit, ma'am?"  
"Please do."  
One of the many computer screens that were in front of her began to establish a connection with the Pelican, when she realized that the covenant may intercept her transmission, so she quickly shut it down. Say My Name had a "Smart" AI piloting the ship on the bridge. But Aimee had her own personal "Dumb" AI. A "Smart" AI would of never made a careless mistake such as the one she almost committed.  
"What landing bay are they heading for," Aimee asked the Artificial Intelligence.  
"Approaching Level 4, dock 12," The AI said.  
"Thank you," Aimee said, collecting her laptop case and began walking out of her small office. She passed a few on duty marines and returned their salutes. She walked through the mess hall, and her nose picked up the stench of grilled chicken. It's been awhile since they had the luxury of having decent food. She caught a couple of marines staring at her, and she turned her head the opposite direction.  
The doors to the landing bay opened, and she stood in the air lock chamber, waiting for the pelican to dock. As the massive doors behind the pelican closed, the airlock doors slid open. She walked along small catwalk to greet the Helljumpers as they piled out of the rather small dropship.  
Due and Fi maneuvered the Pelican inside of the Frigate, and carefully landed on the small pad. Fi turned on his mic, and his voice boomed through the Pelican, "Everyone out!" He shouted, as Due pressed the button that unreleased the hatch that kept the vacuum of space outside the pelican.  
The Pilot stepped out side of the pelican first, noticed Aimee and saluted. The man walked outside of the landing bay and headed towards the barracks to continue his nap.  
Sev was the next one out of the pelican. He noticed Aimee, who at seeing the familiar face, had began to wave at him. Sev nodded in her direction, without showing a trace of emotion. Scorch and the other Thetas gradually filed outside of the Pelican, with Due and Fi exiting last. As the Thetas approached Aimee her facial expression changed from happy, to panic.  
"Where's Connor at?" Sounded from Aimee's trembling lips. Connor was Shadow's true name. Every Theta had taken on a nick name. One way or another, they had grown used to it. And it was rare for them to hear the true first name of their fellow soldiers.  
Sev looked Aimee over. She was wearing a light green uniform that covered most of her body. She was wearing standard civilian shoes, proof that she was used to her particular life style. Her light brown hair flowed to her upper back, and her cheeks were slightly red. ONI seemed to break all the rules, even uniform. The woman standing before Sev was beautiful, but she had many secrets, something he just couldn't stand. He looked at his squad and after a complete minute of silence, Aimee broke down crying. Words wouldn't have to be spoken for her to realize that Connor wasn't coming back.

Aimee struggled to keep herself standing. She felt her knees get weak. Connor was one of the only things she had left to fight for, after her home world was glassed, she was the only member of her family to make it out alive. After that she wanted to join the Marines to get revenge on the bastards who had ruined her life. That was the girl from 9 years ago. She had enlisted when she was 16, as the age limit on joining the military had been lowered after the planet Harvest was glassed. She was 25 now, and she was glad to join the officer ranks and stay out of combat. She had seen enough of her friends die.  
Now, one of the few things she had left to fight for was gone. She broke down, and nearly fell to the floor. Fi caught her, and she began weeping in his arms. "I'm sorry about all this," Fi comforted her.  
"Can we please get moving," Cryo asked, he had been supporting Mega, who was probably feeling the same way as Three-Seven. Fi helped Aimee walk back to her office, while Cryo walked Mega to the infirmary and the other Thetas walked back to their own section of the barracks.  
"Aimee, if there's anything you want to know, just ask, alright?" Fi told her.  
"How..... how did he die?" She managed to ask through her shaking voice.  
"He managed to hijack a wraith, and cover us while we escaped the factory. That's the last time we saw him. We're not sure exactly how he died, we just heard his com channel wash over with static, and he dropped off radar," Fi managed to say. He wanted to sound strong, but he felt like crying just as much as she was. Shadow was his brother. He had seen many marines die before, but it was different when it was someone you were close to.  
Her tears continued to poor from her tear ducts, and she began to have a hard time breathing. "I... I still have to fill out a report of the mission." She said in between her gasps. Fi felt really sorry for her. He would get to back to his barracks and sleep on this. She would have to work through it.  
"If there's anything else you need. Anything at all, just come to me, okay?"  
Aimee gave Fi a hug, and sent him on his way. Once Fi had exited the door Aimee tried as hard as she could to suck it up. She grabbed at a box of tissues and wiped her face off. She had beat red skin, and she felt like shit, but if she didn't get the report filed she would have even more problems.  
"Corrupt, upload me mission times and video logs from the mission," She demanded.  
The AI, who had heard everything responded, "Working on it ma'am. And I'm sorry to hear about your loss." Aimee let out a sigh. She had a hard time believing something so artificial could even begin to fathom how she was feeling right now.  
The videos popped up one the first screen, and she began to type down what she saw on the second computer. The entire mission report would have to be sent to Lieutenant Colonel Jason Abroussard. The man in charge of the missions these commando ODSTs went on.

"Just set him down on the bed over there," The medic instructed.  
"Alright," Cryo said, following instructions. Mega made a small grunt as Cryo dropped him on the bed.  
"Thanks, Jackass," Mega spat.  
"No problem," Cryo smiled happily.  
"Alright, I need you to stretch your knee out, I'm going to do a few X-rays," The medic asked. "Sir, can you step out of the room?" He pointed to Cryo, then at the door. Cryo raised one arm then stood outside the doorway.  
"This isn't going to hurt at all," The man said.  
"I know. I've had other broken bones before, just nothing like this," Mega said. Pain shot up Mega's thigh as the Medic positioned Eight-Fives leg for the X-ray. "You said it wasn't going to fucking hurt!" Mega exclaimed.  
The Medic took the X-rays and told Mega to rest for a few minutes, until he could examine the results. Mega starred at the ceiling, wondering what the future had in store for him. Like Aimee, his home planet had also been glassed. Mega was only 24, and he joined the Marines 3 years ago. He was only a private, but he had seen enough combat for a lifetime. He had been offered a spot in the ODST Commando team "Theta" a little more than a year ago.  
The man returned and told Mega that he had two options. He could either A, get his original leg amputated, and have a new leg flash cloned for him. He would be sore for a few days, but it was much quicker than option B. Which was to let his leg heal naturally, which would take nearly 3 months.  
"Fuck that, I'm not sitting out for 3 months! How long will it take before I can be back in combat?" Mega asked.  
The medic thought things over..."It'll be about a week. Minimum. Two weeks maximum."  
"Just get me in the emergency room ASAP, I don't want to deal with this shitty leg for another minute."  
"We'll start operating as soon as we can, you might want to tell your buddy to find you a replacement though."  
"Damn, I hadn't even thought about replacements."  
Cryo entered the room again, and saw Mega laying in bed, looking straight at the ceiling.  
"So, what's going to happen to you?" Cryo questioned.  
"They're going to cut my fucking leg off," Mega sighed.  
"Woah," Kirby let out a laugh, "that sucks."  
"Screw you," Mega shouted. There was a moment of silence. Then he finally said, "You guys are going to need a replacement for me...and for Shadow too."  
"The thought hadn't even crossed my mind," Cryo responded, almost in a state of shock. They had been injured on missions before. Plasma burns, needler impacts, and broken bones, but none of them had to have anything amputated before.  
"I have someone in mind who can replace me. We were friends back in the academy. If he's available, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to take my place."  
"I'll need a name, so I can get Aimee to transfer him here."  
Their conversation was cut off as an unfamiliar voice sounded through the speakers, "Entering slipspace in 10 minutes. All active personal awake the men in cryo chambers 2,4,and 6, then get some sleep."  
The two Theta's continued their chat.  
"His name is Brett Mills. He's a private in the 105th battalion. He's under Sargent Miller's command. Miller owes me a favor, so I'm sure he'd lend me the man," Mega continued.  
"Alright, consider it done," Cryo said, "I'm going to go inform Sev, and find out who's going to be replacing..." Cryo stopped himself. He couldn't bring himself to say it. It didn't feel right to have someone else take Shadow's place. Mega understood, and just gave him a nod. Cryo left the medical bay, and headed towards the rest of his squad.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Sev had already hit the showers by the time the rest of his men had gotten out of their suits. The musky smell of sweat had filled the room, and he wanted out of it as soon as possible. He stripped out of his suit, and scratched at his low cut orange hair. His body was slim, but at the same time oddly muscular. He pulled himself into the showers.  
He felt the warm trickle of the shower wash upon him. He stood still a minute, just enjoying the warmth, before he started to shower properly. He thought over his missions, and the events that had unfolded because of it.  
One of his own squad members had perished on a mission that he requested to participate in. "Why the hell does it always fall back on me?" He thought to himself. But he quickly answered his own question, by remembering that he was the man in charge of his teams lives.  
He had to be strong for his team. A good squad leader never shows weakness, that's what his old instructor always told him. Shadow's death was my fault, The phrase repeated in Sev's head over and over again. "Maybe I'm not cut out for this job after all," Sev muttered, his words could barely be heard over the drone of the shower.

Sev had joined the UNSC eight years ago. At the young age of sixteen. He recalled his first mission. He was a new recruit, assigned to a newly formed team. His squad leader then was known by the nick-name "Iceman," He was called that, because the men under his squad felt that he had a heart made of ice. Uncaring, and not able to feel for other people. Sev ignored the rumors, and did his best to impress the man.  
The first mission he was on was to take out an Insurrectionist stealth ship. The "Innies" were a group of people that wanted their own freedom. They didn't like the idea of the UNSC having complete control over the human colonies. The mission Sev had been sent on went well, and it was the first time Sev got his hands on an actual Sniper Rifle.  
After the success of the mission Sev began spending more and more time with his squad leader. Eventually, Iceman's ways rubbed off on Sev. Good leadership skills, amazing aim, and a heart of ice. Sev became Iceman's second in command. Together they formed a company of men. Foxtrot. The company did fantastically for 2 years, multiple ground engagements had almost all resulted in victory for the company.  
Before the final mission of Foxtrot, it got a small wave of new recruits. One of them was a man the same age as Sev, a man by the name of James Randal.

"Scorch was so much different back then," Sev thought to himself. "So full of spirit, and so much raw potential."

Jamie was the fastest marine in their entire company of 200 marines. He was also in charge of their explosives. He was also like an empty book, waiting to be filled by anyone willing to teach him. Sev realized his potential right away, and took him under his wing. Together, the two followed Iceman's teachings until the day of the final mission.  
The objective of the mission was to take command of a covenant carrier, and fly it back to UNSC controlled space, and use the information stored in the ship to find a Covenant homeworld. The company was warned that it was a high priority mission, and that chances of survival were low.  
Iceman jumped at the challenge, and ordered all of his men to suit up for an infiltration op. Sev's specialty was picking off targets at a distance, and Scorch's was blowing things up, but the ship needed to remain intact. This put the two of them at a disadvantage.  
As the mission began, things were looking hopeful as 50 pelicans drove directly into the ship, as 4 long swords had bombed a chunk of the ships armor away. About 20% of the men were killed during the infiltration, and only 3 pelicans had been shot down by Covenant Seraphs.  
The group encountered hundreds of grunts and jackals, and many elites. By the time the group neared the control room, less than 50 men remained. Iceman led the final assault on the control room of the ship, and as they broke through the doors into the room, they were greeted by a hunter pair. The remains of Foxtrot opened fire, but Elites had taken up firing positions, and bolts of plasma stopped the marines in their tracks.  
Iceman, being as stubborn as he was, tried to charge the Hunters. The first hunter swung it's shield and made impact with Iceman's side, slicing him in half. Iceman let out a cry, and fell in a pile of his own organs. "Forget the mission......get out of here," is all Iceman managed to say, choking on his own blood. The second hunter aimed it's fuel rod directly at Iceman's head, and fired. Melting everything that was left of him.  
The first hunter pointed back at Sev, and the remaining 17 marines. Sev was dumbstruck after seeing Iceman's death, and couldn't summon the energy to move. As the hunters weapon went off, Scorch dove into Sev, pushing them both on their sides, narrowly missing the blast. Sev came to his senses and took command of the remaining troops. They managed to outrun the hunters, and commandeer a Spirit, and return to UNSC frigate. Only 13 men from Foxtrot company had made it.  
Sev had been offered a spot in the ODSTs, but accepted only if Jamie could go with him. The two of them had survived.

Sev thought about Iceman's last words. They echoed inside his brain. "Forget the mission," It had been a top priority mission, like the one he and his squad had just returned from. Sev, had been lost in his own memories and hadn't even realized Chaos had been calling his name.  
"Get your ass out of the shower, Cryo's got some news for you. The rest of us are going to get cleaned up, we'll meet you out there."  
"No problem," Sev replied, walking out of the showers, drying himself off. He walked back to his bunk, and looked at the chest near the foot of his bed. He pulled out his UNSC uniform, the rank of Master Sargent was on his left shoulder. He got into his attire, and met up with Cryo.  
"Have a nice shower?" Cryo asked.  
"It was refreshing, you should get one too. It's been days since we showered last."  
"I plan on it, but there's a couple thing we need to take care of first."  
"And what would that be?"  
Cryo hesitated a moment, then continued, "Mega's going to get his leg amputated. He's getting a new one flash cloned for him now, but he'll still be out of commission for a few weeks." Upon hearing this, Sev's eyebrows went up.  
"That really fucking sucks," Oh-Seven let out, "But what could of been avoided. "I let it slip my mind that we would need replacements. Did Mega have anyone in mind on who to replace him?"  
"He said that he has a friend from back in training that's still around, and that he should be happy to temporarily join our squad. A man by the name of Brett Mills. From the 105th battalion, under Sargent Miller," Recalling what Mega had told him.  
"Understood, I'll get Aimee working on a transfer. What about a replacement for Shadow?" Sev slurred his words as he tried to stop himself from saying 'replace Shadow.'  
"I think I've got someone in mind. We're close friends. I know he's just as skilled as us. It's been a while since I worked with him though. He's always being moved around by UNSC though, so he should be able to get transfered here."  
"Oh really? I'll need a name."  
"Allen Freeman. But he prefers to be called Caustic, like the substance."  
"I'll let Fi take up the details with Aimee, just tell him what he needs to tell her to get 'Caustic' in the squad. I'm going to get some sleep."  
"Affirmative," Three-Seven said, walking to his bunk, to slip out of his armor.

Cryo had a buzz cut, he had it cut recently, and he could feel stubble starting to grow in. He was average sized, not too tall, but not very short. Not too muscular, but not a wimp either. He set his armor on his bed, and made a short trip to the showers to meet up with the rest of his fellow brothers.

"We're going to need you to strip out of your armor, and get into this gown so we can preform the surgery on you," The medical officer calmly said.  
"Yea sure," Mega replied, struggling to get the armor of his legs. The medic was clearly amused. "You think this is funny asshole?" Mega said.  
"Watch your tone with me," The medic quickly said.  
Mega couldn't afford to play games, he needed to be back with his team as soon as possible. Dozens of thoughts started to zoom into his head, as he pulled the final pieces of armor off, and got into the medical gown. What if he didn't wake up from the surgery, what if something went wrong, and he became horribly disfigured. What if the flash cloned leg wasn't the right size?" These thoughts left his head as quickly as they had entered, because more and more "doctors" filled the room, and prepared him for his operation. He would be out for 20 hours, they told him. The surgery was a delicate one.  
The doctors put the mask on Mega's face, and he took a deep breath, he was instantly knocked out.

"Hey Cryo," Due said as Cryo entered the showers. Fi, Merc, Scorch, and Chaos had already finished bathing. Due took slightly longer however.  
"Where's Fi at? I thought he was in here," Cryo asked.  
"He just left the showers, him and the others went to the mess hall."  
"I didn't see him on my way here."  
"That's where they said they were going, go check for yourself."  
Cryo sighed and left the showers. He longed to feel the warm water on him. He was getting tired of the smell that was coming off him.  
As he entered the gigantic mess hall he realized that tons of people were in the room. UNSC officers, ONI operatives, standard marines, and even ODSTs. Cryo struggled to find his team-mates, but after a few minutes of searching, he found them.  
"Sorry to interrupt Fi, but Sev gave me orders to have you talk to Aimee about replacements."  
The rest of the table went silent. "I don't want to deal with any fucking new guys," Chaos flat out said.  
Fi got up from the table, glaring at the Three Thetas left at the table, then followed Cryo on a walk to where Aimee's office was. Cryo briefed Fi on what to tell her.

Aimee had listened to the last radio transmission Connor had sent out over and over again. "Why am I doing this to myself," She asked to herself. "I have more to live for than just him."  
"Corrupt, when does Colonel Abroussard want this report?"  
"He's expecting it on his computer within the next 3 hours, ma'am," the AI cheerfully responded.  
"Damn it," Aimee sighed, wiping the tears from her face. She continued typing up the report, the factory detonation and all, uploading short clips from Six-Two's helmet, so the explosion could be viewed by the Colonel.  
She was about to send the report when she remembered that it would have to be proofread.  
"Corrupt, check the report for any errors, than send it to Abroussard on an encrypted channel."  
"Yes, ma'am."  
She remembered that ONI had been requesting a team to field test some new weapons, but they were only prototypes. If the weapons did well in combat they would be manufactured for the entire UNSC. She figured Theta would like a go at some of the weapons, and requested for them to be sent from Castle Base on Reach, to "Say My Name."  
She sent the request back to Reach, and spun in her chair, preparing to get up, when Fi entered the room. "Hello Aimee," he happily said.  
"Oh, hello One-Five."  
"You can call me Fi, or Paul, if you please." Fi suggested.  
"Alright."  
"How're you feeling," Fi asked.  
"I'm not feeling well at all, pretty shitty. But all my work is distracting me from it. I'll make it. I always have before," Aimee replied, looking directly into Fi's dark brown eyes. She was already fighting back tears just thinking about it. Talking about it was much harder on her.  
"Well, if work keeps your mind off of things, then today's your lucky day," Fi said, before realizing that today had been anything but lucky, " We're going to need some new replacements. We need to the files sent out so the men get here as soon as possible."  
Fi had taken the liberty to write down the men, and their leaders, and who they were operating under, so Aimee could take care of everything easier. He handed her the papers.  
"Thanks, I'll get right on it, Aimee said, starting to sit down again. Before she could, she was caught in a hug. "I'm sorry you have to go through this," Fi whispered into her ear, "We're all dealing with it too." Tears were actually coming from Paul.  
Aimee returned his hug, but she quickly let the hug end as well. If anyone saw more physical contact than necessary she would be in a lot of trouble.  
"I'm going to get back with my team," Fi uttered, walking out the door awkwardly.  
"What was all that about, Lieutenant?" The AI pondered.  
"He's trying to comfort me," She replied, focusing on the replacement reports. "I might not be able to stop them from dying, but I can get them the best damn equipment possible."

The squad got plenty of rest over the next few days, showers, food, healing any wounds they had received from the mission. Mega's operation was a success, but he's so high on the medication that nobody wants to even talk to him. He should settle down in a few days, but by then they would be out on their next mission.  
Lieutenant Colonel Abroussard had sent Aimee intel for the newest mission. They would be heading to the planet Tribute, which was in the same colony system as Reach. They were to help fend off invaders from the ONI base there, and help as many people get off the planet as possible. They were scheduled to leave today, but they had to wait for the replacements to come in. That pelican was the next one scheduled to dock on the ship.

The pilot of the pelican was breaking protocol by listening in to the conversation going on in the back of the pelican, but he didn't care. He wanted to hear as much as he could about this mysterious team of Helljumpers. He flipped a switch, then kept an ear open for any information, as the pelican approached the ONI frigate.  
"So, what've you heard about this 'Theta Squad'," Brett asked.  
"I haven't heard much, only whatever my buddy Cryo tells me," Caustic replied.  
"I heard that 2 of their members made it through an entire Covenant carrier in one piece."  
"I dunno, I don't listen to gossip or rumors, I just do my job."  
"Ye... yeah. I guess we should just focus on the mission." "Did they brief you on anything," Caustic asked after a moment of silence.  
"Nope, my Sargent just sent me out to some ONI cruiser."  
"Same, I got a letter telling me I was a permanent replacement for some ONI squad."  
"Wait, you're here permanently?" Brett asked.  
"Yeah, you're not?"  
"No, I'm only here for one mission."  
"That's odd. So how many drops have you been on," Caustic asked.  
"Only 2, but I love the rush."  
"I heard some guys vomit all over themselves on their first drop, but I didn't, thankfully. That'd be horrible to clean out of your helmet," Caustic replied.  
"Entering Frigate, 'Say My Name' now," The pilot announced, unhappy that he was unable to hear anything about the Theta's.

The two replacements stepped off the pelican, and were greeted by their new Sergeant.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Caustic and Brett quickly saluted their new squad leaders.  
"At ease marines," Sev said, returning their salute. "I assume that you weren't briefed on the details for our mission?"  
"Neither one of our commanders gave us intel about this mission, we were just called out and put here," Brett said, melancholy.  
"Alright, follow us back to the bunks. You two don't have much time to rest. As soon as the shipment of weapons arrive we're heading straight for Tribute. Luckily it's not very far," Scorch said, looking his new recruits over.  
"Yes sir," Both Caustic and Brett responded. The group of 4 men walked through the familiar corridors of Say My Name and soon reached the Theta bunks.

Merc was running a check over his armor, making sure everything was in working order. Due was making sure everyone had at least 3 fragmentation grenades each, while Fi was off spending more time with Aimee. Cryo was catching a quick nap, and Chaos was polishing his shotgun when the group entered the room. Chaos looked up from his shotgun, and spotted the two new troops.  
"Fucking new guys," he hissed under his breath.  
"You two didn't bring much with you, did you?" Due asked the both of them, noticing they each carried only 2 suit cases.  
Brett took a look at his first suitcase, and set it on an empty bed. "One of the suitcases has my armor materials in it. I don't really need much more," he said, getting ready to unpack his belongings.  
"Get your things off that bed," Chaos said slowly.  
"Wh..why?" Brett asked, startled at Chaos's reaction.  
"Chaos, chill will you?" Due asked, stepping away from the crates of fragmentation grenades. "One of the biggest rules here, is don't question Chaos. It's not a smart thing to do." Due muttered to Brett.  
Chaos glared at Due, than at Scorch, who just gave Nine-One a slight shake of the head, a gesture telling him to stand down. "So, I don't think we've had a proper introduction, have we?" Sev questioned. Sev pointed a finger towards Caustic, "We've got some time, why don't you give us a little intro about yourself."  
"Lance corporal Allen Jackson. I prefer to work with rifles. I'm not a fan of working up close, I like to keep my distance, but I'm not exactly a sniper either. I went through the UNSC training academy with Paul (Cryo's real name), and was shipped off to what was left of the outer colonies. I've been there for three years. One year ago I offered a spot in the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, I of course accepted," Caustic explained.  
"Well, you were offered a spot in the ODSTs, so you obviously know your stuff. Glad to have you aboard," Sev said, shaking Allen's hand.  
Caustic took a step backwards, and Brett took an uneasy step forward. He could feel the other marines in the room staring dead at him, he didn't want them to think any less of him if he said something wrong. He ignored the feeling and started, "I'm Private first class Brett Mills. I joined the UNSC 3 years ago, and fought with Mega for a couple of months. I haven't heard from him until recently, but orders are orders, so here I am."  
"How long have you been in the ODSTs," Scorch questioned.  
"I volunteered to join last year. I've only been on a couple of drops though," Brett replied.  
"We've got a hot drop later today, I'm just glad both of you have experience with this," Scorch said.  
Cryo awoke from his sleep and saw the familiar face, and hoped up to greet Caustic. "It's good to see you again," Cryo exclaimed, embracing Caustic.  
"Good to see you too. Most of the men we went through basic with aren't around anymore," Caustic said, returning the hug.  
"I heard about Brandon and Nick..." Cryo started.  
"Yea, Alice and Patrick are gone too," Caustic added.  
"Are we the last two from our squad left?"  
"No, Jerome and Micheal are still out there. I haven't heard from Jerome since last year though. But his Service record says he's still in active duty."  
"That's good to hear," Cryo said.  
"Sorry to interrupt you two love birds," Due said, "But you need to get unpacked if you want to get debriefed in time for the mission."  
"Oh sorry," Caustic said, "Where do I put my things?"  
"Me too," Brett reminded.  
"Just set them on the farthest two beds," Due said, pointing to the far corner of the room. "There should be a rack for your armor next to your bunks as well," he added.  
"We can talk later, Allen," Cryo said, walking towards Scorch, who was pointing for Cryo to come speak with him. He was also showing the same gesture to Chaos.  
As the two Thetas walked towards Scorch and Sev, Due and Merc were left with the two new recruits who were unpacking their things.  
"Hey Caustic," Merc said, in a quiet voice, "I'm Merc. Welcome to Theta," Merc extended his hand, and waited for Caustic to take it. Caustic looked the ODST over. He was a big man, built well. He was quite tall, and his face was hardly visible through the unpolarized visor of the ODST helmet.  
"Nice to meet you Merc," Caustic said, shaking the helljumper's hand. Merc left Caustic, and repeated the process with Brett. Due stood back, observing, and waiting for Merc to finish up. As Merc went back towards his bunk, Due approached Oh-Four.  
"What was all that about," Due asked innocently.  
"If we're going to be working closely with those two, I'd rather not have them on my bad side," he replied.  
"That makes sense I guess," Due said, satisfied with Merc's response.

"Chaos, watch the hostility would you," Sev demanded.  
"Sev, you know as well as I do that there's no point in asking Chaos that," Scorch stated.  
"He has a point," Cryo also said.  
"Is that all you had to say?" Chaos asked, his thoughts clearly elsewhere.  
"No, it's not." Sev said, obviously pissed. "There's no reason for you to act so hostile towards the two of them. They're going to be vital to this mission," Sev seethed.  
"More like a liability," Chaos shot back.  
"Chaos, just calm down man, it's not a big deal," Cryo resolved.  
"I'm not the one making it a big deal, am I?"  
"Look, it's not that much to ask that you treat them with a little respect. Go back to doing whatever it was you're doing. I just don't want any problems to arise on the battlefield," Scorch said, wanting this conversation to end.  
"Fine," Chaos said, and stormed back to his chair, and continued to polish his shotgun and knives.  
"What did you call me over here for, sir?" Cryo politely asked.  
"I just wanted your opinion on Brett," Scorch answered for Sev.  
"I think he's just a little nervous. Seems jumpy," Cryo answered.  
"That's what I thought too. Hopefully he'll function better under pressure. Caustic looks like a good trooper from what I've seen," Sev said.  
"He is, trust me. You won't regret choosing him," Cryo respectfully said.  
"Let's hope not," Scorch added in, before walking off.

"So, what's ONI got you up too now?" Fi asked Aimee.  
"You know that's classified," She responded, typing on her computer.  
"Aww..." Fi said, leaning over her, trying to get a glimpse at Aimee's computer.  
"I highly suggest you stop horsing around this instant, Corporal," Corrupted demanded.  
"Looks like your buddy is in a pissy mood," Fi snickered.  
"Excuse me?" The AI asked.  
"Will you please calm down?" Aimee asked Corrupted Purpose.  
"Ma'am, You know as well I do that non ONI officers are prohibited from being in the office while you're working on classified material!"  
"Ugh, over-ride protocol four subsection two," Aimee said, focusing on her work.  
"Shouldn't you be with your squad, you've been with me for awhile," Aimee asked One-Five.  
"They aren't doing anything important, besides, this is the last day I'll get to spend on this ship for the next couple of days," Paul responded.  
"Well, what exactly are you doing in here?" She asked him.  
"I'm waiting for you to tell me when the new weapons are shipping in," He asked, smiling.  
Aimee got out of chair and walked away from her desk, near the small sofa wear Fi was sitting. "Corrupted, alert me once the pelican containing the weapons docks. I want those weapons in my office ASAP."  
"Yes ma'am," The AI responded, following orders.  
"Looks like we've got some time to rest," Fi said, looking Aimee over. The two of them had gotten a lot closer of the last few days. Fi had helped Aimee deal with Shadow's death, and she had helped him deal with it as well. They had seemed to click, and Fi had been spending much more time with her.  
"Not for much longer," Aimee told him, "The pelican is supposed to be arriving any minute now. Once it's docked we're on a course straight towards Tribute."  
"Well, why don't we enjoy the time we have left," Fi said, scooting closer to Aimee, placing his arm around her.  
"I-," the lieutenant started, but was interrupted by her AI.  
"Pelican docked, Private Debabo is bringing the weapons to your office as we speak."  
"Thanks for the heads up," She responded to him, standing up.  
"My pleasure," It told her, disappearing into the chip which contained him.  
Fi stayed seated, and Aimee stood near the door, waiting.  
After a brief silence, there was a knock on the door.

"Lieutenant Smathers," Private Debabo asked.  
"That's me private," Aimee replied, looking at the rather large metal box, with a security code keypad on the top.  
"Delivery straight from ONI CastleBase on Reach," the private said, smiling. "I'm not sure what's in that box, but it must be pretty important if it came from Section Three."  
"Thank you private, can you please leave my office," Aimee asked in the nicest way possible.  
"Sorry to trouble you ma'am, the private said, walking out the door.  
"Well that was nice," Fi said, looking at the box.  
"We're kinda limited on time," Aimee said, handing the box to Fi. "The captain should be pulling us into slipspace any minute now."  
Fi lifted the long metal box, and stood behind Aimee with it, "Where are we taking this," Fi questioned.  
"Where do you think," She responded. Fi kept his mouth quiet, but followed Aimee through the corridors of the ship, and walked into the Theta chamber.

"Everyone, get up here on the double. Looks like Aimee's brought us a gift," Sev boomed. The squad all rushed towards Sev, Aimee, and Fi, eager to see what the new weapons were.  
"These weapons just came up from Reach, you're team is going to be the first to use them in combat," Aimee lied. She knew ONI had battle tested these weapons before. "If you come across any malfunctions, file a report with me after the mission," she warned.  
"Yes ma'am," the Theta's barked.  
Aimee keyed in a series of numbers into the keypad located on the top of the metal box. As she punched in the final number of the code the lid of the box unlatched. She pushed the metal lid off and it's contents were revealed. She picked up two Rifles, "The BR55 Battle Rifle is a gas-operated, magazine-fed, mid-to-long range weapon capable of semi-automatic and burst-firing modes," She explained. "We have two of them, I'll let you decide amongst yourselves who will get them.  
The squad didn't say a word, but instead focused on the remaining weapon in the box. "The Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle is the most powerful infantry weapon in the entire UNSC," Aimee started. Scorch's eyes were fixated on the weapon. "It has a massive kickback, that only a Spartan would be able to withstand without losing balance. It is nicknamed the 'Spartan Laser' for this reason. The weapon fires a superheated directed laser beam at whatever you might be aiming at. The Laser is capable of burning through any material or shielding. However it takes a great deal of energy to create such a powerful laser beam, so the battery inside the weapon can only take five lasers before overheating. It is advised that you take care of this weapon, as they are extremely rare, and ammo for them is scarce."  
"So that laser can burn through a Hunter's armor and kill it instantly," Scorch asked, still focusing on the weapon.  
"The range of the Spartan Laser is quite large, and it is capable of burning through up to three hunters before dying down," she plainly responded.  
"I have fucking dibs on that weapon," Scorch said, flat out.  
Sev took a look at the two rifles, "I'll just stick with my sniper rifle. Caustic, you said you like mid-range combat. Looks like this weapon was made for you man," Sev ranted.  
Caustic took a step forward and took hold of the weapon, adjusting the optical scope on the top of the rifle, "Thanks sir," he said, while toying with the gun.  
"Mind if I use the other rifle?" Merc questioned.  
"Does anyone else object?" Sev asked. There was a brief moment of silence.  
"It's all your's Merc, go crazy with it," Sev chuckled, handing the rifle to Merc, who looked the new weapon over.  
Scorch lifted the Spartan Laser up, and situated it on his shoulder. It was heavy, but nothing he couldn't handle. He couldn't wait to fire it.  
Aimee was about to speak when a voice filled her ear piece, "Ma'am, the Captain wishes for you to ask the ODSTs to report to the bridge," Corrupted Purpose informed her. He had a habit of interrupting her.  
"The captain wishes to speak with you all," Aimee informed the group.  
"They're probably going to re-brief us on the mission before we drop," Due said, walking out of the door first. The rest of the Theta's followed, with the majority of them telling Aimee goodbye, seeing that it was unlikely they would see her again until after the mission. Fi waited longer than the other's, holding back to stay with her for a few second longer, before he, too, departed.

The group continued on their path throughout the hallways of the ship until they reached the bridge of the ship, which was the control room of the ship. Many officers were seated catching some rest after the slipspace jump, they'd be right back at it once they fell into Tributes view. The captain of the ship was peering out of the glass near the front of the ship into space. He turned around once he heard footsteps and saw his troopers standing in front of him.  
Each Theta member raised their arms and saluted their captain.  
He returned their salute. "At ease," he said.  
"Lieutenant Smathers said you called, sir," Sev stated.  
"Yes Sergeant. I'm aware that you got your new recruits today, as well as new weapons straight out of ONI section three. You can thank me for personally talking with the council to get those weapons," Captain Akio Grove said. "I wanted to re-brief you all on the mission you're going to be going on."  
"Alright, go ahead captain, you have all ears listening," Sev said. All ears was a term Sev used when he wanted everyone focused on what someone had to say, no speaking was to go on until he gave the signal that we could.  
"Most of you were given intel on the mission days ago, but it's a nice refresher to go over the details. ONI base Bridge Under the Water sent us a message that Tribute was under attack by a small covenant force. It appears that the Covenant stumbled upon the planet by accident, so there's not a major force there, yet. The UNSC cannot muster enough ships for a counter attack at the moment, so a small number of ships are being sent to delay the Covenant from getting whatever they want groundside, so they don't glass the planet. Hopefully you can buy the UNSC enough time to get more ships together to push the Covenant back, and get some of the ONI staff off the planet. Most of the civilians were taken off the planet via life-pods, but much the ONI base's staff if still stuck there. In addition to trying to get the officers off the planet alive, we're trying to recover the artifact that the Covenant are after, and pull it back to "Bridge Under the Water," To prevent the Covenant from simply glassing the place. You are all going to be groundside for at least 3 days, but the ONI base should have plenty of supplies to last," The Captain finished speaking at last.  
"Anything else?" Sev asked the captain.  
"We're doing a flyby of the planet, We're going to drop you in via single occupant exoatmospheric insertion pods. You've all been on drops before, this one is no different. I shouldn't have to go over the risks with you."  
"No, that won't be necessary captain," Scorch dipped in.  
"I wish you and your men luck, sergeant," The captain added.  
"We don't need luck, sir. Just skill," Scorch said, while the squad left the bridge, and headed towards the bay where the HEV pods were located.

"Sounds like a pretty risky mission," Brett said.  
"We've been on worse," Due answered.  
"I don't like the idea of being glassed though," Cryo said.  
"Don't worry, I'm sure Navy knows what it's doing," Merc replied.  
"Mind if we pay Mega a little visit before we drop?" Sev asked.  
"Not at all, let's go for it," Scorch answered.  
The group continued their conversation about the mission while they headed towards the medical bay. A medic informed them that Mega was in the recovery unit, and they were free to see him.  
The entire crew stepped into the small room and towered above Mega's bed. He looked up at them, "What the fuck are you guys doing here," Mega slurred. He was barely stable on all those drugs.  
"Just came to beat your ass before we dropped," Fi joked.  
"I think Sev's hog did enough damage," Mega managed to say after a long period of time.  
"That wasn't my fault jackass," Sev chuckled.  
"I....know, Just playing with you," Mega manged to say.  
"I wish I was going on that drop with you guys."  
"We wish you were coming with us too," Chaos said pointedly.  
"Brett, is that you," Mega finally noticed him.  
"Yeah it's me. I see you're not doing too well, Cody," Brett replied. It had been years since someone called Mega by his first name.  
Mega smiled, "been awhile since someone called me that."  
"Sorry to cut this short," Sev broke in,"but we drop in 40 minutes. We got to get to our pods and get our weapons prepped."  
"I'll see you all after the mission," Mega finally said.  
"Peace," erupted from the majority of the Thetas. Chances are, Mega wouldn't remember that conversation even happened.

The Crew of 9 ODSTs walked down the corridor, and headed for the bay where their pods were stationed. They would be dropping into Hell, feet first.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

The launch bay was not very large. In the center of the room was a holo table with a map of the area, with the objective in view. On the far left wall there was rows neatly filled with an assortment of weapons. On the far right wall fifteen HEV pods were in clear view.  
Sev entered the room first, and headed towards the miniature armory. The other Theta's followed, and each grabbed their weapons of choice. Sev headed towards the group of SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifles. He plucked one from the group, and made a few slight modifications to the scope on the spot. He grabbed two extra magazines of ammo, and made his way to the row of M7/Caseless Sub Machine Guns, and grabbed one, and strapped it to his thigh.  
Scorch strolled up to a giant crate which contained two M19 SSM Rocket Launcher's. He grabbed one, as well as a pack of extra rockets. Before he was able to strap them to his back, he realized that he would not be able to carry both the Laser, and the rockets. He motioned for Brett to take the rockets, and then Six-Two instead took an MA5K assault rifle.  
Chaos carefully inspected his own M90 Shotgun, and decided to keep it over the cluster of fresh shotguns in front of him. He did however, grab twenty extra shells for the gun. Chaos walked past the group of SMGs, and grabbed two M6C Magnums, cut down versions of the M6D, and placed each one on his thigh's.  
Due grabbed for an MA5B Assault Rifle, and made his way towards the M6D pistols. Cryo repeated Due's motion, and regrouped with Sev who had already been waiting at the table.  
Moving over to the SMGs, Fi picked one up, strapping it top his thigh, then hesitated. With a childish grin on his face, he picked up a second and strapped it to his other thigh, looking around at Sev to see if he would notice. He saw Due giving him a weird look. "Shh" he mouthed, putting his finger to his lips.  
Once the group had all chosen their weapons, Sev started to formulate a strategy which they would employ when they dropped.

"We're going to be dropped somewhere around Casbah, Tributes most populated city. We are going to make our way out of the city, and meet up with a couple of Pelicans, which should be airlifting armor and reinforcements along this road," Sev moved his finger along the holographic road. "If we don't have the luxury of getting reinforcements then we'll make due with what we have until we reach the UNSC outpost _Lost and Forgotten_ and retrieve this 'forerunner artifact,' that the covenant are after." Sev's finger pointed at a small base about a mile off the road. " Given that most of us have survived this long, we're going to move along this valley," Sev made a small gesture, indicating where the valley was," and rendezvous at the ONI base Bridge Under the Water." Sev finally finished speaking.  
"The captain said something about being groundside for days, does that mean we're going to be the only one's down there," Due asked.  
"I'm assuming that there's still some scattered UNSC forces down there, or at least remnants of the militia," Scorch answered before Sev.  
"How many ONI spook's do you think are down there, and how long do you think they can hold the Covenant off until we get there," Brett nervously asked.  
"None of us know how many spook's are down there, but they're all well trained. I'm sure they will survive long enough for us to get there," Sev answered, before Scorch could give his input.  
"Most ground battles don't last more than a few minutes. A couple hours at most. They expect us to hold out there for days," Merc said, shaking his head.  
"Look, I know the odds are stacked against us, but the captain believes that there's still some marines in that city, and who knows what we'll find at that UNSC outpost. We might get lucky and find a few tanks," Sev replied.  
"Can we stop asking questions..." Chaos replied, eager to get into his pod.  
"Aimee, how much time until my men drop," Sev asked, clicking the COM button on the table.  
"The ship is approaching Tribute now. ETA until we're in position, 3 minutes," Aimee's voice chirped over the speakers in the room,"you might want to get to your pods now," She added.  
"You heard the lady. We've all been on drops before. This is nothing different. When we give the command, pull the plug," Scorch ordered.  
Every ODST slipped into their helmets, and polarized their visors to mask their faces. The 15 HEV's weren't much bigger than the men who would ride them into hell. During the training to become an ODST, the instructors always reminded the students that much could go wrong in a drop. The pod's chute could fail, or the pod might land in water, or with it's hatch face first. There was only a 65% survival rate.

Due slid his MA5B into the weapon rack on the interior of his pod. His M6D was still strapped to his leg. He put his back against the interior of the pod, and strapped himself in. The hatch to his pod slid shut with a hiss, and his pod slowly turned to face a wall, and he heard 8 other HEV pods follow the same pattern his had.  
Directly before a drop so many thoughts would race through the minds of the helljumpers. There was a rush as the pod would drop through space, and into the atmosphere of the planet. But there was a lot of risk involved. But right now, Due just focused on the many screens in front of him.  
"Enjoy the calm before the storm boys," Sev said.  
"I want to be_in_ the eye of the storm," Chaos added.  
"I ran into a little problem getting into my pod," Scorch said, his helmet coming into view on the small screen located next to the right side of the pod, "This laser wouldn't fit in the hold, but I found a way to make it work."  
"I can only imagine what sort of set up you have in that pod," Fi said.  
"Wait a minute, is the laser in the pod with you?!" Cryo asked.  
Scorch's visor depolarized and a small smile appeared on his face. "Maybe," he sneered.  
"Cut the chatter!" Sev's voice boomed in each ODST's ears. "Set your pods to drop in "Five...," Due moved his hands to the small series of buttons near the left control stick. "Four...," Due's fingers darted across the small keyboard, setting coordinates. "Three...," Five-Eight moved his hands onto two control sticks and gripped them. "Two...," Due shifted in his pod. "One...," He shut his eyes and pressed a button on the control stick. "DROP."  
Due opened his eyes and realized he had jumped the gun on the drop. He had clicked the button a half a second early, and realized he had made a critical error.  
"Due you're going off course. Try and readjust your coordinates to change your entry vector, make is snappy," Scorch commanded.  
The ODST struggled to enter the new coordinates as his pod dropped at an alarming rate. He punched in the last number, and forced his pod to stray farther left. Due looked up and saw 8 pods trailing above him.  
"I think I got it." Due said as his pod tore into the atmosphere of the planet. His eyes darted back and forth as he witnessed Covenant Spirits, dropships, dropping off loads of troops on the planets surface. He also noticed that they were all being dropped off near the city, they had to be looking for the forerunner artifact.  
Due took another look above him. He realized that he was now directly under Caustic's pod. "Shit," He whispered. He was running out of time, there was few options remaining. He could adjust the course, and possibly end up separated from the squad, or let Caustic's HEV crush his own on landing.  
"Or maybe..." his voice trailed off. He changed coordinates by a single digit, then let the arch of the planet modify his entry vector further.  
The pods created a sonic boom as they entered the atmosphere of the planet, and an amber flame appeared under each of the ships. The chutes at the top of the HEV's opened, and the pods decelerated. Due's pod crashed through a skyscraper, and landed in one of the streets of the city. Caustic's pod missed the target entry zone by a mile. He had changed course, unaware that Due had already corrected his error. The rest of the pods came streaking down crashing through buildings and landing in the middle of the street.

Due's hatch flew open, and he crawled out of his pod. He activated a small beacon on the city map located in each of the ODST's VISRs.  
"Did everyone land alright," Sev questioned. As he made his way out of the pod. 7 green lights winked on the heads up display. A single light burned amber red.  
"Caustic, report," Sev asked. Two coughs were heard, and Caustic answered,  
"My pod landed with it's face on the ground. I have no way of opening it. I'm alright, but I'll need you guys to get this thing open."  
"You heard him, everyone make your way to Caustic's crash site. We'll get him out of that pod, then continue to the base," Scorch said.  
Merc and Cryo's pod landed close to each other, and the two of them quickly regrouped with Chaos. Caustic's pod was about a mile south, and they were supposed to be helping the marines in the city, if there was any. The group encountered only small pockets of grunts at first. But as they went deeper into the city, they started to fight more and more jackals and Elites.  
"Spirit inbound," Cryo whispered as the dropship hovered over the ground 4 Jackals, 5 grunts, and a blue elite fell to the ground. Technically, Chaos was the highest ranking member in the squad of 3, and using hand signs, he ordered the group to hold fire until the spirit was clear.  
3 grunts approached the spot where the ODSTs were hidden, and as the first grunt rounded the street corner, he was greeted by a quick stab to the forehead. Chaos quickly pulled the knife from the grunts head, and repeated the process on the remaining two grunts. He pointed his finger towards the corner, and held his fist up then opened it again. The "frag and clear" symbol.  
3 fragmentation grenades soared through the air until they connected with the ground. Two seconds later they blew, killing two jackals, and injuring a grunt. The shrapnel from the explosion wiped the elites shielding away, and left him vulnerable. Merc fired a single burst from his rifle, and the 3 rounds connected with the aliens head, killing him.  
Cryo and Chaos made short work of the remaining troops and continued down the street towards Caustics crash site.  
When the small squad of three neared the crashed pod, they noticed that the rest of the group was already attempting to get the pod standing up, so they could pry the hatch open. There was also two marines with the Theta's as well. Four grunts lay dead near the pod.  
"Hey assholes. Get over here and help us lift this pod up," Fi shouted.  
With the additional help of the newly rejoined Theta's, they were able to prop the HEV back up. Together, all of them ripped at the hatch of the pod, until it finally gave and opened. Caustic literally fell out of the pod and struggled to regain his footing. Cryo extended him a hand, and Caustic took it. As Caustic removed his Battle Rifle from the holder, Scorch set his hand on his shoulder. The gesture spoke volumes for an ODST.  
"Alright, we've spent enough time in this city, let's get the hell out of here and get back on track," Sev ordered.  
"Yes sir," the words echoed throughout the streets.  
As the group began to sweep through the city, Fi decided it might be a good idea to find out a few things about the marines they had picked up. He looked throughout his VISR and found out that they were both marines in the UNSC that were stationed in the city to help train a militia, in case anything like this happened again. They were both corporals. One was Corporal Develle Hughes. The other was Lance Corporal Devon Smith. "  
So, you two were training a militia?" Fi openly asked, breaking the silence.  
"Yes," Develle replied. He was armed with an MA5B, and he looked very tired.  
"So um, where is it?" Fi pondered.  
Devon shot Develle a look, and the Develle replied, "They didn't last very long. It wasn't a very big force, and we were poorly equipped. They weren't ready for this."  
Before Fi got a chance to respond, Sev's fist went up. "Hold up," signal. Sev pointed towards a building, and the group went inside. "Two hunters, and three Elites are up ahead. I'm going to head to the roof, Merc, Caustic, I want you two with me. We're going to take them down from the rooftops. The rest of you need to get their attention. Make some noise.  
"Affirmative," Brett said. The squad moved to their appropriate positions, and waited for Sev to give the order to move out.

Sev climbed up a flight of stairs, and found a ladder leading to the roof. The two Theta's followed him, and set up for the attack. Sev set his snipers bipod on the edge of the roof, and he peered down the street in the direction where the Covenant had been. He spotted the bastards, and crouched next to his sniper and aimed down his sights until the Elites head was in his targeting reticule, which was linked to his weapon thanks to the suit's neural interface.  
Merc and Caustic crouched on both sides of Sev, and raised their rifles to their shoulders. They looked their scopes and waited for the boys in the street to draw their attention.  
Scorch ordered the group to fire on the Covenant troops, and the aliens turned to face their attackers in the street.  
"Now!" Sev whispered into his mic.  
Bullets flew through the empty city streets and connected with the elites shielding. The Hunter's raised their shields and the rounds simply bounced off.  
Caustic and Merc pulled the trigger on their rifles and three round bursts burped from their barrels and the majority of the bullets ripped into the elites shielding until it was completely drained.  
Sev held his breath and took three steady shots. Each round connected with the elites and a shower of purple blood rained onto the concrete of the street. Sev adjusted the gun until he had a hunter in plain sight. But he didn't have a shot, due to the lack of exposed orange flesh.  
"Six-Two I don't have a clear shot, make them turn around somehow," Sev boomed.  
"What the fuck do you want me to do," Scorch replied, still firing towards the beasts, hoping a few lucky rounds might slip pass the armor of the hunter.  
Merc and Caustic had stopped firing as well, but both were focused on the hunters. The hunters got impatient and charged the group of marines on the street. They pushed cars aside, and even ripped through the corners of some buildings. The closer they got to the marines the better of a shot Sev had. The first hunter bobbed up and down as he charged through the street, and as a small amount of orange flesh was in view, Sev hesitated, wanting a better shot. But the Hunters had already arrived at the marines.  
The first hunter swung it's shield and it crashed into Devon's side, ripping the marine in half. He fell into a puddle of his own gore, and blood bubbled from the marines mouth as he gasped for breath. Two sniper rounds fired in quick succession and the beast collapsed. The second hunter lifted it's shield up, preparing to bring it down upon Brett's skull, and two more cracks from the sniper rifle were heard, and the second beast fell harmlessly to the side, roaring in pain.

Thirty seconds later the squad on the rooftops were with the Theta's groundside. Develle was on the ground looking over his fallen comrade. Develle's face was beat red, he was filled with anger. "I spent the last seven months with him, and in one day everything we worked for was obliterated. I'll kill every last one of those damn Covenant fuckers," his words stung, and it was a violent reminder of Shadow's death.  
"Calm down marine," Sev said calmly.  
"Calm down, CALM DOWN?!" The Marine's words were biting into Sev, "If you had taken the shot earlier he would still be alive right now!" The corporal was shouting loud enough that anyone in the city could of heard him.  
Sev stood there, letting the marine tear into him. He knew the marine was right. "Watch your tone with a superior officer," Scorch darted in. Chaos was preparing to kill the marine just for talking to a Theta like that. Sev motioned for Chaos to stand down.  
"I understand that you're upset, but you can stand around here, and let the Covenant kill you too, or you can regroup at the ONI base and possibly survive. Or, we can just skip the process all together, and I could file you for a court martial and leave you here to die," Sev said calmly.  
Develle shut his mouth, and suppressed his anger. The group uneasily moved forward, along the road that would lead them to the UNSC outpost.

Due had recognized the marine from before. A face from the past. He hadn't noticed at first, because of all the combat. But now that he had a second to just stop and think, it donned on him that this corporal who was now with them, was his old squad mate.  
Silence filled the air, and boot's hitting the dirt as the squad made their way to the UNSC outpost. Due took a moment to look around and decided it was safe to remove his helmet. He tore it from his head and held it at his side, and stood still a moment, waiting for the group to turn around.  
Sev noticed Due wasn't following and turned to meet him first, with the rest of the group abruptly following suit.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He bellowed.  
Develle quickly realized that Theta Five-Eight was, infact, his old partner. "Frank, is that you?" he questioned, now looking into Due's hazel eye's.  
Due looked over the marine once more, he was only six foot tall, nothing compared to Five-Eights six foot five. This marine had mixed color skin, and brown eyes. His hair was cut very short, and his features were defined. "Yes, it's me you son of a bitch," Due smiled. The rest of the marines were confused.  
"Why didn't you say something earlier," Develle questioned.  
"I didn't realize it was you," Due started, "We haven't worked together in years. I didn't know if you even existed anymore."  
"Want to fill us in, Due?" Fi asked what everyone was thinking.  
"Me and Develle here have known each other since we were ten years old. We joined the UNSC together and worked in the same squad for 2 years. When you guys offered me a spot in the ODST's, I left the team I had worked with. I haven't seen him since then."  
"The group disbanded shortly after your departure, and we were all split up and put in different companies. I was recently assigned to tribute to train a militia after I was injured in a firefight with a group of jackals," Develle continued.  
"Well, you two can continue this little reunion later, we got trouble," Scorch said, butting into the conversation. The group looked towards the _Lost and Forgotten_ and realized that was now under Covenant control. And they were going to take it back


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:****

"Fi, Merc, Due, Chaos, Brett, move up around the side of the base, see if there's any resistance around back. The rest of us will move up to the front and wait for your signal.

The area around the UNSC outpost was surrounded with dirt. There was a single road that passed the area, but trying to use it would be suicide. There was boulders around the area that would provide some cover, but the base was by far the tallest object in view. The Covenant had the high ground, which made the ODST's job much more difficult. The area was frigid. Not as cold as things were on their last mission, when they assaulted the Covenant base. Nonetheless, it was still cold enough to make Sev ball his hand up into a white knuckled fist.

"Yes sir," Group A, Fi's group, responded. They started to sprint behind the boulders, and hoped that there wouldn't be any snipers that might spot them before they were in position. The base wasn't heavily guarded. From what the group was able to see earlier, there was only a few banshee fliers, heading toward the city. Luckily they didn't notice the Theta's creeping through the rocks around the road. There was only two Covenant Shade turrets in position near the roof of the base and only a single patrol ghost. Nothing they couldn't handle. But still, it made sense to avoid any conflict when necessary. But when the time came to engage, it had to be done quickly before anyone could call for backup.

Fi took point and dropped to the ground and crawled between a few boulders and then attempted to locate any possible targets that were too close to the squad. After a brief moment, a small ping was sent to every Theta in group A. The map on their VISR was updated with the locations of all the enemies that One-Five spotted.  
Brett looked over the map that he had pulled up on his helmet. There was three separate squads guarding the back of the base, consisting of only three elites, about twelve grunts, and about five jackals. No vehicles. Brett began to open his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Chaos.

"This looks like a piece of cake. We might as well just take these guys out now. We won't even need the others."  
"You're right. I think we've got enough firepower to take these bastards out. I'll see what Sev thinks about the situation," Fi responded. "Sev, do you copy," Fi questioned. Sev's green acknowledgment light lit up. "I'm uploading the visual on the back of the base to your VISR, Chaos and I think that we should engage these targets now. What're your thoughts?"

Sev looked over the newly updated map, and quickly formulated a plan. "We'll take out the guys out front, make some noise. We can make sure that none of them come out back to help the current guards. Just make sure you all finish them off quickly, then move inside the base and take out any aliens left on the roof, if we haven't killed them yet."  
Sev had broadcast his plan to every Theta, which meant that the rest of B team, Sev's squad, would be slightly confused. And he'd also have to explain it to Corporal Hughes, since he was just a marine and didn't have the unique armor the ODST's wore.

"The boys around back are planning on going offensive and killing the Covie's around there. We're going to engage the troops near the front of the base, to make sure that they don't try to help their fellow soldiers around back. Hopefully we'll be able to keep their attention long enough to give A team the time they need to get inside. Everyone clear?" Sev said, lifting his rifle to his eye, to get a clear visual on the head of the blue armored elite sitting in the shade turret.  
three green lights flashed on Sev's heads up display. Develle nodded his head, then readied his rifle.

Fi gave the frag and clear signal, and every member of the squad tossed fragmentation grenades in the direction of the Covenant sitting in the back. A second before the grenades exploded, Chaos threw a knife directly at one of the grunts, and the knife made a cut in the grunts methane tank. Once the grenades blew that entire squad of Covenant were washed with flames.

The remaining two elites, along with their squads turned to face the invaders. They readied their plasma weapons, and opened fire. The Theta's rolled to the side and dodged the plasma, but the boulders they were using for cover were splashed with the superheated plasma, and they began to melt. Fi responded to this attack by pulling the two SMG's from his thighs and spraying his attacks. The bullets ripped into the grunts, but the remaining jackals moved infront of the elites, shielding them from the caseless rounds.

Due fired his MA5B into the jackals, and his armor piercing rounds knocked the jackal shields out. Merc took the opportunity to kill the jackals, and fired two bursts from his battle rifle in quick succession. The elites now had their shielding back, thanks to the jackals, and the blue armored elite raised his plasma rifle and began to fire once again. The red armored elite however, pulled a sword from his thigh, and let out a roar as the blade came to life.  
The red elite charged Chaos, and Merc, Brett, and Due were pinned down by the blue alien. Fi turned to see the red monster, rushing his squadmate. Fi opened fire into the aliens back with his rounds, weakening his shields. Chaos smiled behind the visor of his helmet, and whispered, "come get it bitch," then raised his M90 shotgun, and waited until the very last moment to pull the trigger. Chaos let out a howl and the shotgun shell ripped past the elites shields and tore into his chest, the monster let out a scream and fell to the ground. The alien survived the blast to the chest, but was twitching on the ground. Chaos let out a small laugh and crushed the monsters head under his boot.

Sev kept his ears open, and waited for the first gunshot to sound from the back of the outpost. Once he heard gunshots, he pulled the trigger on his sniper rifle. The 50 caliber bullet raced through the air and connect with the elites head, spraying it's brains all over the roof, and then the decapitated body fell from chair of the shade. The second shade turned towards team B's position , and began firing towards the group.  
Plasma crackled through the air, but the shots went wide and missed the group entirely. There was another crack and another bullet raced from Sev's sniper and connect with the second elites head.

Scorch noticed the ghost was rapidly approaching their position, and he decided to take matters into his own hands. He lifted the heavy spartan laser, and got the ghost in his sights. A small red last beam pointed towards the head of the ghost. Scorch kept his finger held on the trigger and heard the charging of the laser directly in his ear, and his shoulder began to warm up, a second later a massive red beam fired from Scorch's laser, and blasted the ghost, engulfing the entire vehicle in a beam of heat. The blast from the laser had nearly knocked Six-Two over, and his entire shoulder felt like it was on fire, just from the heat of the blast. He gave a large smile while looking at the ghost and just plain out said, "Holy shit."

Team A had now successfully infiltrated the Base, which from the outside was a large rectangular building with what looked like a large garage on the side of it. The building looked to be only two stories tall, and it had a a communications tower on the roof. But inside the building, you could now tell that the base had an entire level underground. And that you had to pass through many narrow corridors just to reach the second story.  
"Two grunts on the other side of this doorway," Fi reported. Due and Brett raised their M6D's and quickly ran into the hallway where the two grunts stood. Two shots rang out from the pistols, and the powerful rounds tore into the grunts heads, killing them. "Targets neutralized," Due said.

The team moved through another series of hallways, killing the little resistance that happened to be inside the base.  
As they neared a ladder which led to the roof, and elite rushed behind the group and grabbed Brett by the neck. It raised it's plasma rifle to Bretts head. Brett coughed and started to black out, the elite was choking him to death. As he started to black out, he felt four bullets whiz through the air past his head, and connect with the elite that was holding him hostage. Merc and Due held smoking weapons. Merc had fired a burst into the elites head to take him off guard and weaken his shields, and Due fired a round from his M6D at the same time. The elite fell to the floor with a single bullet wound to his forehead. Brett struggled to regain his footing, short of breath. Merc walked closer to him, and gave him a hand.  
Brett took Merc's hand and stood up, he coughed and managed to say,"That was too close."  
Merc replied simply with, "It could of been much worse."  
The 5 ODST's began to climb the ladder which led to the roof.

B-team had just started to walk towards the front entrance to the base, and two banshee's soared overheard, plasma raining down from them. "BANSHEE'S ARE BACK!" Caustic shouted.  
The group returned back to the cover provided by the boulders, and readied for the banshee's to pass by again. Cryo, and Develle, raised their MA5B's and launched armor piercing rounds towards the first banshee. The bullet's tore into the bottom of the flier, but it remained airborne, and dropped a fuel rod bomb from it's main canon.  
The fuel rod came lashing through the air towards Scorch, who was readying his laser for the second banshee. He heard someone shout "Scorch" and he realized the fuel rod was headed straight for him. Six-Two sprinted forward, and ducked behind a boulder just as the fuelrod hit the dirt.  
"Thanks for the heads up," Scorch called.

The first banshee had just left the Theta's sight when the second banshee flew overhead, raining plasma down on the group. Scorch kept his head low, and aimed the heavy laser once more. He heard the familiar charging of the laser, and then the feel of the laser firing from the small canon. The red laser connected with the banshee's hull and debris fell from the sky where the banshee had just been.  
"Nice shot," Caustic chuckled.  
"No time for compliments, the first banshee's on it's way back for a third attack," Sev reminded them. Cryo and Develle reloaded their assault rifles and fired into the air again, this time the banshee was ripped to pieces. The remnants of the banshee fell harmlessly to the dirt.  
Just as group B was crossing the street, and nearing the entrance of the outpost, Fi shouted down to them,  
"Looks like we missed all the fun!"  
The group on the ground looked up to face the ODST's who on the roof, and saw that all five of the members from team A were unharmed. Sev turned on the mic in his helmet, and broadcast on the Theta's personal frequency, "Team A, look for that Forerunner artifact that's supposedly in the basement of this place. Make sure there isn't any Covenant down there too. Team B is going to head to the vehicle bay and see what we can find." Once again, eight acknowledgement lights winked green, and corporal Hughes nodded his head.

Fi led his troops back through the corridors, and down to floor one. The group explored the basement, searching the massive hallways underneath, that were almost, un-human. Gray mettalic hallways filled the basement of the complex. After an hour of searching the group finally found a door which led to a room that contained the crystal.  
"What the hell is that," Due asked to nobody in particular, as the crystal came into view.  
"I'm pretty sure that's what we're looking for," Merc replied.  
The room was large, and the crystal was propped up on two prongs. It almost looked as if it was floating, and there was a small level of radiation emitting from it.  
"Due, go grab the crystal, and bring it back up top. The amount of radiation leaking from it isn't lethal, just grab it so we can get out of here. I have a bad feeling about this place," Fi ordered.  
The ODST nervously walked up to the artifact and plucked it from it's stand. He stuffed it into a bag that he had been instructed to bring with him. He closed the small bag up and put it around his back. The group left the room, and soon made their way back up to the top floor.

About seventy minutes had passed, and group B had discovered an armory with not much left. Only a handful of assault rifle ammo, and even less M6D ammo. Sev took the two magazines of sniper ammunition, and Fi took the last remaining SMG magazines. Team A took the last four grenades.  
There was a single M808B Main Battle Tank, or Scorpion tank, left in the vehicle bay. In addition to the tank, there was a M12LRV, or Warthog and two M274 Ultra Light All-Terrain-Vehicles, or Mongooses.  
The Thetas were all accounted for, and prepared to make their assault to the ONI base Bridge Under the Water.  
"Alright. Looks like the captain was right when he said there should be some supplies left here. Infact, we're actually very lucky to have this tank, it make's our lives, oh so much easier," Sev said, looking over the tank.  
"I'm driving the tank," Scorch said flatly.  
"Naturally," Cryo whispered to Caustic.  
"Let's get the seating arrangements all taken care of now then," Sev sighed. "I'm driving the warthog, Chaos, Merc, I want you two with me." The three ODST's walked over towards the warthog, and took their positions in the jeep.  
"I'm operating the tank, Due I want you to be the gunner for me," Scorch asked, and ordered at the same time.  
"Works for me," Five-Eight responded.  
"Fi, I already know you want to drive the mongoose," Sev started, "Rather than take two we'll just take one. Brett, you're riding with One-Five." Fi sat in the drivers seat of the small vehicle, and Brett awkwardly hopped on the back of it, placing both his hands on the small bar behind Fi.  
Sev and the other ODST's let out a chuckle as Brett tried to keep himself in place on the back of Fi's vehicle, but the moment was short lived, as Brett quickly fixed his problem.  
"So, that leaves Caustic, Cryo, and Develle to sit on the side's of the scorpion," Sev finished. As the marines took their positions on the tank, Brett began to get angry.  
"There's still a spot on the scorpion, why can't I just sit there!" Brett protested.  
"Because, it's not as much fun that way," Sev laughed. The majority of the other Theta's laughed as well.  
Due glared at Sev and whispered under his breath, "real mature." Scorch heard the comment, but didn't respond to it.  
"Alright then, enough fucking around. We've got a mission to complete. Fi, Brett, you two are taking point. You're the scouts. Scorch will follow up in the tank, and we'll guard the rear," Sev commanded.  
"Uhm, Sev, considering that we have a fucking tank, do we really need to send a scout vehicle up first. It'd probably be much safer just sending the heavy armor through first, this tank can take much more plasma than the mongoose," Cryo said.  
"I have to agree," Caustic added.  
"Do I have to remind you who's in charge here," Sev said hoarsely  
"No, but I personally don't think that's it's a good idea to..." Develle was cut off by Scorch,  
"You heard him! Drop the discussion and move out!"

It was now sunset on the planet Tribute, and it was now snowing very lightly. The small force of ODST's continued to make their way towards the ONI base, and they were now entering a large valley, which meant they were nearing the base.


End file.
